History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I, Part 46

Author:
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1162

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and of Christ's kingdom. Coeducation had been vindicated. Reputation had been established. Discipline of a specifically moral and religious type, founded not so much on "honor" as on conscience and justice, had been suc- cessfully introduced. Local and interdenominational interest had been shown to be not only possible but actual in connection with a church college. The careful inculcation of moral and religious principles had been proven to be thoroughly consistent with true liberty of opinion. All the main questions had been raised and answered. The period of experiment closed with well- ascertained results and therefore with high hopes.

THE THIRD PERIOD.

III. This we may term the period of establishment. What had been promised and begun must be performed and carried forward. The question of means was perplexing, for it must be recognized that necessary expenditures had to be made before the needed funds had been paid in, while the income from student fees was inconsiderable. The Cleveland synod's refusal to share responsibility was not without its effect in a region somewhat uncon- vinced of the need of another institution appealing directly to Presbyterians, and already strongly drawn upon for patronage and support by two well- established institutions in their more immediate neighborhood. Other col- leges in the state were continuing to report to the synods thus claiming, though with no thought of submitting to control, a certain recognition for commen- dation and consideration. There was still, in the eastern and southeastern sections of the state, a considerable leaning toward Washington and Jef- ferson College and Marietta, and the old affection for Miami, which had been so largely sustained by members of our churches. Popular favor was still to be won in larger circles. Sufficient progress must be made, both in buildings and endowment, to show advancement sufficiently rapid to secure the larger donations. The third period fitted down upon the second accu- rately. There was to be no change of principle and none of practice except such as should more closely conform to and illustrate principle. But that meant deepening the hold of the university idea upon the whole ecclesiastical connection from which the chief support of every kind must come. It meant the constant magnifying of the work committed to the University. It meant securing wider recognition and co-operation in homes and schools as well as in churches and synods. It meant making actual that which the period of experiment had made possible.

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All this Doctor Taylor was prepared to undertake, for he well under- stood the situation. In this he found a source of strength, and it certainly was a test of his courage and faith. He met the situation as to Wooster's exclusive relation to Ohio Presbyterianism with skill and tact. Without exciting animosities, he was gradually able to instil the conviction that no other college could possibly bear the relation to the church in this state which that college bore, the being and life of which sprang from the heart and purpose of that church after many years of discussion and determined effort. He made it evident that the "care" of the church could not properly be claimed when its "control" was rejected. This distinction made its way, and reports of other institutions finally ceased to be offered to the synods, though occasionally rendered until about 1885. But it may be noted that the habit of giving to institutions then considered as quasi-Presbyterian has con- tinued until some hundreds of thousands of dollars have reached channels of educational usefulness outside of denominational relations. This only proves what the Presbyterians of Ohio might have done very early in the engagement, and may yet do if they come to have a "mind to the work."

One could scarcely think out a man more exactly adapted to the situa- tion he found than was Wooster's second president. His antecedents were of the best. He was born in Springfield, Ohio, in 1834. His remoter an- cestors came from England in 1602, settling at Garrett's Hill, Monmouth county, New Jersey. He was a descendant of Dr. James Waddell of Vir- ginia, and a cousin to Drs. J. W. and J. A. Alexander. After their father, he was baptized Archibald Alexander and, after his own father, Edward. His father, born in this state, was one of the original trustees, and in his honor the sophomore prizes were afterwards founded. President Taylor graduated from Princeton College in 1854 at the early age of nineteen. Three years later, having completed his theological studies in Princeton Seminary, he was licensed by the presbytery of Cincinnati in 1857. His first ministry was at Portland, Kentucky, then a suburb and now a ward of the city of Louisville. The writer's ministry began at the same time at Jef- fersonville, Indiana, and a pleasant, though brief, acquaintance was formed across the river. Sent out from Dubuque, Iowa, six years his home after the two at Portland, the vigorous and witty sketches signed "Hawkeye" brought both usefulness and reputation. At the close of 1865 the Bridge Street church of Georgetown, District of Columbia, claimed him, and in 1869 he took charge of the Mount Auburn church (Cincinnati). His min- istry there was much blessed for the four years which passed before Wooster

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in 1873 called him thence. He had been a member of the boards of educa- tion and of church extension and of the board of directors of the Northwest- ern (now McCormick) Theological Seminary, and a member of the Reunion General Assembly, Pittsburg, 1869. His name appears in the list of Woos- ter's trustees with the opening year, 1870. His well-known literary quali- fications, together with other qualities, and his intimate knowledge of the University's affairs, made him the logical successor of the first president. Doctor Lord indicated him as his own first choice, and that choice was unanimously and enthusiastically ratified by the board of trustees. Another has described him as "of medium size and kindly aspect, of fine talents and impressive address, of unusually genial temperament and well adapted to win the affection of students and to interest all whom he meets in the Univer- sity, to the building up of which he has devoted himself with all his ener- gies." Able, like Aaron, to "speak well," he was also able, like Moses, to legislate well. Familiar with what he was accustomed to call 'the spirit of youth," he gave it right of way whenever it kept the right way. Spiritually- minded and thoroughly loyal to the evangelical and evangelistic spirit, "a powerful work of grace," one writes, accompanied the first year and in it "a large proportion of the students were hopefully converted, some of whom have already turned their faces toward the ministry."

At the second inauguration the principles on which the university had been founded and which it was now successfully reducing to practice, find most ample and persuasive utterance in the address of the retiring president, of the board's president. Dr. John Robinson, and of the incoming president. They provide a new platform, but one constructed entirely of the tried and proved material of the institution's brief but satisfactory experience down to October 7, 1873.

Dr. Lord claims existence vindicated and foundation firmly laid. Fac- ulty, curriculum, quality of instruction and government are held to have gained "the recognition and confidence of the intelligent public." He em- phasizes three things which have "materially conduced to this success": (I) organic connection of the University with the Christian church, (2) its open door to all qualified students irrespective of sex, (3) the wide range and elevated character of its studies. Concerning the first of these, Doctor Lord maintained that it was "no new thing." Both in Europe and in the United States institutions of higher learning have been founded and sustained by influences distinctly Christian. This he abundantly proves by instances which need not be cited here. "They have all been begotten of Christian

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faith. They have all been sacredly cherished by it." "This Uni- versity owes its existence to Christian men of large views and aims with refer- ence to intellectual culture and attainments, but who at the same time have an intense belief in the necessity and supremacy of the moral and the spiritual ; who believe that no degree of mere knowledge in the individual or in society can guarantee truth and right and social order or public liberty, and that without Christianity states and nations, as surely as isolated men, will perish. They therefore brought the university into vital connection with the church. They made this connection not one of a general and undefined de- scription, but of essential organism. The intent was not that dog- matic forms should be visible and have sway here but that the true spiritual life of the church should touch and consecrate the intellectual life and power of the University. And the immense value of this procedure cannot be overestimated. Every day adds to the certainty that in all our primary and public schools education will be wholly secular." Sure that this result must arrive, the retiring president argues that the necessity to which it will give rise will be "that homes shall be pervaded with Christianity and that Christian influences shall surround and fill our academies and colleges not connected with the state. Here they have full access and beneficent opera- tion." Happily all that was then feared has not arrived in these thirty-seven years since passed. There is still, for an awakening sense of our place and privilege as a Christian nation, a "fighting chance." That awakened sense can and will defeat secularism! The Bible is by no means driven from the large majority of the schools of America. But there is reason enough to cause anxiety and to summon the forces of truth and righteousness to the maintenance of the true theory of our national institutions. [See Story's comment on Amendment I to the Federal Constitution and the decision of the Supreme Court by Justice Brewer in 1892.] Meanwhile, for the danger's sake as well as for other weighty reasons, the penetration of our homes and our colleges with a profoundly Christian spirit is imperative. Doctor Lord's address closed with a peculiarly winning and solemn parting word to the students. He attributes all satisfaction in the restrospect of his life to having "spent it all, however imperfectly, in the service and for the glory of the Son of God. In the light in which I now see and with the feelings which control me, had I a thousand lives to spend nothing could tempt me to any other service. * Oh, may all the students of this University live and die for Jesus. Farewell."

.Again we listen, on the same occasion, to the noble counsels given the

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new president by that veteran in the university's service of honor, Dr. John Robinson : "We all feel intense interest in your call to the presidency of this university, around which cluster the affections and hopes, and upon which concentrate the prayers of so many of God's people. It is yet in adolescence. You are to bring it to manhood. It struggles with difficulties growing out of a want of full endowment, intensified by the commercial derangement and depression of the times. It is hoped you will relieve this condition." "This institution is designed as an exponent of the manner in which Presbyterian Christians would do the work of education. They would furnish the most complete culture, covering the whole field with deepest investigation, clearest analysis, most extended knowledge and, added to all, the elements of the science of salvation." They would "teach all that may be taught of earthly science and mingle with this the rules of a stern morality and the directions and motives of a hearty consecration to God." It is to be the instrument of the church not only for preparing a ministry but to train men for "every profession and position of influence whose power may help to promote righteousness and salvation in the earth-to bless humanity and glorify God." Then Doctor Robinson's charge dwells impressively upon the serious position toward the students the president will occupy in respect to their age, their absence from home, the new lives and conditions of thought into which they would enter. Then his position would be similarly grave as toward the world at large in view of awakening mind and its incidental dangers. The church "needs to be felt" against all that confuses thought and destroys morals. "The church looks to you and this University for the influences and the men to do this work." Then followed the pledge and the delivery of the keys.

When we reach the inaugural address we discover no failure to realize the solemnity of the obligations assumed, nor any difference of conception concerning the fundamental principles. Specially responding to the genetic idea of the University, Doctor Taylor takes the office "as a minister." "If liberal education may not be combined rightfully with religious instruction, what place have we here?" Three answers to the question as to this com- bination are given. The first is from "state institutions or independent cor- porations which have fallen under no denominational control and wherein no direct religious influence is brought to bear upon students, or, if at all. in the most formal method." The second answer comes from "institutions under general religious influence but not directly connected with any branch of the church and under no ecclesiastical control." The third answer comes

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from "institutions belonging to and managed by some branch of the church. This position we occupy." Then the inaugural proceeds to sustain this posi- tion. For the sake of the state it is important. Quoting from Washington's "Farewell Address" and the great "Ordinance of 1787," and emphasizing the authority of Story and Webster that Christianity has been inherited through the English common law as an integral portion of the law of our land, he is led to affirm : "We need offer no excuse for the defense of educa- tion as already bound up with religion in its application to American youth." "In proportion as free men are educated they must needs be more religious." They endanger us who "attempt the unnatural divorce of education from religion." The land fares ill when its men are "trained through non-religion to irreligion." He quotes Huxley and Cousin; as well as Cicero and Quin- tilian, to show that such a divorce should be counted as "inconceivable for any nominally Christian people." "From the irreligious college you bring the youth home without religion in his heart and with irreligion in his head." This introduces the second argument, that drawn from the student himself. If education be defined in terms of the intellect alone, you "obscure the moral nature" and that means disaster. "What we want from our universities is not minds so much as men." This argument finds its logical successor in the appeal to symmetry of development. Neglecting or lessening the moral sensi- bilities dwarfs the man. Then follows the argument based on the need of the church for such institutions. The laity, in the midst of current unbelief and plied everywhere with the facilities of infidelity, need Christian educa- tion. Neglect this and many young men are "lost to the church." "Reli- gious stability" in every congregation demands that our youth be "taught by those who fear God and keep his commandments, and under the shadow of her own healthful institutions." The need of more numerous and yet better educated ministers presses for the Christian college the more the church is learning to press out into the masses of the non-Christian world. Our theological seminaries are half empty for want of more and more pro- nounced Christian colleges."

Then the incoming executive reaches the special Wooster feature of a "peculiar relation to the church." "The property of this University and its endowments belong absolutely to the Presbyterian church of this state- to its highest ecclesiastical body. Is there anything inconsistent or perilous in this fact? Rather ought not the church to glory in it and seek to make her own institution in every respect worthy of her piety, her power and her resources? The best method of ecclesiastical control, whether direct or in-

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direct, has been the subject of much dispute and variable practice. The discussion need not be reopened, Our plan is established and seems to be working well. Let us have the opportunity and the means to put it thor- oughly to the test, since it has proved valuable in other quarters. If the church is to have control of colleges at all, it must be either by the hand of a single denomination or by the united hands of more than one. We rejoice heartily in all manifestations of the spirit of Christian unity. * *

But our way is no less directly toward real unity and the blessing of the whole church of God because, like our own pulpits, it is under our own im- mediate direction. The authority of ex-President Woolsey on this point may be deemed decisive: 'There is no practical difficulty,' he says, 'arising from the fact that colleges are in some degree under the control of the denominations. * Here I may be allowed to state what I have myself observed, that in a long acquaintance with officers of colleges con- trolled by various religious sects, I have discovered no spirit of proselytism, and no important disagreements in regard to the meaning and essence of our common Christianity. They may cling and possibly with fondness to their own modes of church government, to the distinctive points of doctrine which come down to them from their fathers, but they do not differ as to the reali- ties of sin and forgiveness, nor as to the qualities essential to the perfect life.' Our work is thus recognized by us, not as educating youth for the sake of making Presbyterians, but as educating through the efficiency of our own methods the young for the sake of the whole church of Jesus Christ, of which we are but a single element. It is not sectarian any more than it is secular."

Then the incoming executive defines the Wooster "mode of alliance of education and Christianity." It is to be effective "through the faith, testimony and examples of teachers who love the Lord Jesus and who desire to lead every student, both by direct and indirect personal influence, to the same loving Savior; and through the pursuit of secular studies from the position and under the constant light of religion. More and more we desire to intro- duce the study of the Scriptures and of the evidences of Christianity and to choose for text-books those in which the spirit of Christianity is positive and prominent." With these will be joined the daily and Sabbath worship; and a government "founded upon the quiet recognition of conscience in every student. * Thus we desire to create and maintain among the whole body of our students a devout and firm Christian spirit which shall exert its vigorous and positive power upon every one brought within our circle."

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The administration so well begun continued prosperously. The cata- logue of 1873-4 bears evidence of the literary taste of the new president and is adorned with a fine portrait. A decided gain in attendance was realized. Doctor Taylor took the biblical chair. J. O. Notestein appears as instructor in Latin. No professor of English has been found, but Doctor Gregory continues to teach that important subject with remarkable analytic and sug- gestive power. His "outlines" are cherished still by those who came under his instruction, Adolph Schmitz, an accomplished teacher, subsequently an author, takes the chair of modern languages. The seniors numbered thirty- one. Among them our fellow-citizens, Attorney Metz, Mayor Freeman and Judge Taggart. Juniors are thirty-seven. Sophomores are fifty-five and freshmen are forty-seven. The preparatory department enrolls fifty-three ; the medical department eighty-seven. The grand total reaches three hundred and ten. The annual schedule is published. Three courses now run in par- allel lines, the classical, the philosophical and the scientific. The West- minster church is established. The location and advantages are more fully set forth and the "congenial and cultivated society of the city" is noted. Some emphasis is laid upon the lectures in hygiene and anatomy, delivered by Dr. Leander Firestone. There are twenty-eight graduates, and among them the first young woman to complete the course, Miss Emily Noyes, now a missionary in China. At the close of the collegiate year Doctor Stoddard conducts a party of young men on an expedition to the Rocky Mountains, taking twenty members of the junior class. The fifth year. 1874-5, wit- nesses a slight decrease of collegiates, attributable to pecuniary stress and some advanced entrance requirements, but there is an increase in the prepara- tory department. Mr. J. S. Notestein appears as adjunct professor of Latin, and Mr. James Wallace as principal of the preparatory department. The sixth year, 1875-6, brings increased attendance. Junior contest in oratory for prize, offered by the class of 1875, takes its place. Dr. James Black is added to the faculty as professor of Greek, and Mr James Wallace is made adjunct for the same language. The seventh year, 1876-7, shows steady increase. The senior class numbers thirty-five, of whom thirty-one graduate. Miss Ella Alexander ( Mrs. Boole), afterwards so well known as speaker and organizer for the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and secretary for our Women's Home Mission Board, takes the junior prize. Through self-deny- ing efforts, with lectures and collections by the faculty, the observatory is built and the telescope installed. Dr. T. K. Davis begins his work as libra- rian. Prosperity continues in the eighth year. 1877-8. There are three hun-

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dred and twenty-two students in all and thirty-one graduates, but Professor Gregory, the forceful teacher and author, is called away to be president of Lake Forest College. With the ninth year, 1878-9, success is yet more pro- nounced. There are three hundred and fifty-three students and thirty-one graduates. Professor Schmitz retires and Mr. R. C. Dalzell returns to mod- ern languages. Strong religious influences are manifest and a gracious revival is experienced. Testimony is given to the manly character of the student-body. In the ninth year, 1879-80, new work in oratory is intro- duced under Instructor Sharpe, and Prof. W. O. Scott is added to the fac- ulty. The teaching body is made more complete with Leotsakos, from the Athens University, as instructor in Greek and Latin, and Joseph Collins, honor man of 1879, as instructor in mathematics. The medical department has one hundred and six students. The summer term is instituted, mainly for those who wish to make up collegiate work in arrears. Expenses are represented as extremely reasonable. Boarding as low as $1.90 per week may be found, and unfurnished rooms from twenty-five to fifty cents. For $2.50 we are assured "one may live in comparative munificence" (?). The elective study plan, permitting no variation before junior year, is found satisfactory. The first term of the tenth year, 1880-81, is pronounced "one of the best and the most successful in faithful study and good order." Prog- ress is quiet and steady and prospects were never more full of promise for extended prosperity and usefulness. Thus we go forward through the next years, finding evidences of continued success. In the last year of this period, 1882-3, these evidences were abundant. The gymnasium building is added and the commencement exercises are held therein, for it is also an auditorium. Field day is established and physical culture is expected to obtain more recognition. The catalogue enrolls 500 students in all departments. The department of music, under care of the distinguished teacher and writer, Karl Merz, is established. With his admirable instruction and entertaining lectures, the department becomes at once a great culture force in the univer- sity's life. The three hundred and fifteen graduates number half as many at our thirteenth year as "some other colleges have graduated in fifty years." The classical course has been especially well maintained. The triennial cata- logue, '80-83, shows a total attendance from the opening of one thousand five hundred and ten students. In the collegiate department there have been five hundred and ninety-nine. Of these four hundred and seventy-seven have been men and one hundred and twenty-two women. The preparatory depart- ment has enrolled nine hundred and eleven. Of these six hundred and ninety-

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History of Wayne County, Ohio, Volume I, Part 46

Author: Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen Number of Pages: 1162

Author:
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Indianapolis : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 1162